Technologies for annotating process and user information for network flows

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for annotating process and user information for network flows. In some embodiments, a capturing agent, executing on a first device in a network, can monitor a network flow associated with the first device. The first device can be, for example, a virtual machine, a hypervisor, a server, or a network device. Next, the capturing agent can generate a control flow based on the network flow. The control flow may include metadata that describes the network flow. The capturing agent can then determine which process executing on the first device is associated with the network flow and label the control flow with this information. Finally, the capturing agent can transmit the labeled control flow to a second device, such as a collector, in the network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/171,899, entitled “SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING DATACENTERS,”filed on Jun. 5, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology pertains to network analytics, and morespecifically to annotating process and user information in a networkenvironment.

BACKGROUND

In a network environment, capturing agents or sensors can be placed atvarious devices or elements in the network to collect flow data andnetwork statistics from different locations. The collected data from thecapturing agents can be analyzed to monitor and troubleshoot thenetwork. The data collected from the capturing agents can providevaluable details about the status, security, or performance of thenetwork, as well as any network elements. Information about thecapturing agents can also help interpret the data from the capturingagents, in order to infer or ascertain additional details from thecollected data. For example, understanding the placement of a capturingagent relative to other capturing agents in the network can provide acontext to the data reported by the capturing agents, which can furtherhelp identify specific patterns or conditions in the network.Unfortunately, however, information gathered from the capturing agentsdistributed throughout the network is often limited and may not includecertain types of useful information. Moreover, as the network grows andchanges, the information can quickly become outdated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of an example network environment;

FIG. 2A illustrates a schematic diagram of an example capturing agentdeployment in a virtualized environment;

FIG. 2B illustrates a schematic diagram of an example capturing agentdeployment in an example network device;

FIG. 2C illustrates a schematic diagram of an example reporting systemin an example capturing agent topology;

FIGS. 3A through 3F illustrate schematic diagrams of exampleconfigurations for reporting flows captured by capturing agents in anexample capturing agent topology;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example configuration forcollecting capturing agent reports;

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an example capturing agent reportingprocess;

FIG. 6 illustrates a table of an example mapping of flow reports tocapturing agents;

FIG. 7 illustrates a listing of example fields on a capturing agentreport;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example method embodiment related to processinformation;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method embodiment related to userinformation;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example network device; and

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate example system embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Overview

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

The approaches set forth herein can be used to annotate process and userinformation related to network flows captured by various capturingagents or sensors deployed throughout a virtualized compute environment.The capturing agents can be packet inspection sensors configured tomonitor, capture, and/or report network traffic information at thevarious locations. The capturing agents can be deployed on virtualmachines, hypervisors, servers, and network devices (e.g., physicalswitches) on the network. The various capturing agents can capturetraffic from their respective locations (e.g., traffic processed bytheir hosts), and report captured data to one or more devices, such as acollector system or a processing engine. The captured data can includeany traffic and/or process information captured by the capturing agentsincluding reports or control flows generated by other capturing agents.

The data reported from the various capturing agents can be used todetermine the particular process or user involved with a given flowbeing reported. For example, capturing agents deployed throughout thenetwork can be configured to identify the process or operating systemuser account that is responsible for generating or processing a networkflow and report such findings to a collector in the form of a controlflow. The reported process and user information can be used tounderstand the relationships of the flows and the correspondingprocesses and users, and may drive further analytics on the network.

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media forannotating process and user information in a network. A system mayinclude a virtual machine, a hypervisor hosting the virtual machine, anda network device such as a switch communicatively connected to thehypervisor. The virtual machine can have a first capturing agent orsensor that is configured to monitor a first network flow associatedwith the virtual machine. The first capturing agent can generate a firstcontrol flow based on the first network flow. The first control flow caninclude first metadata that describes the first network flow. The firstcapturing agent can label the first control flow with a first identifierof a first process executing on the virtual machine, thus yielding afirst labeled control flow. The first process can be associated with thefirst network flow. The first capturing agent can then transmit thelabeled control flow to a collector via the network.

The hypervisor may also have a second capturing agent. The secondcapturing agent can be configured to monitor a second network flowassociated with the hypervisor, and the second network flow can includeat least the first labeled control flow. The second capturing agent cangenerate a second control flow based on the second network flow. Thesecond control flow can include second metadata that describes thesecond network flow. The second control flow can then label the secondcontrol flow with a second identifier of a second process executing onthe hypervisor, thus yielding a second labeled control flow. The secondprocess can be associated with the second network flow. Next, the secondcapturing agent can transmit the second labeled control flow to thecollector via the network.

In addition, the network device can have a third capturing agent that isconfigured to monitor a third network flow associated with the networkdevice. The third network flow can include the first labeled controlflow and/or the second labeled control flow. The third capturing agentcan generate a third control flow based on the third network flow, andthe third control flow may include third metadata describing the thirdnetwork flow. The third capturing agent can then label the third controlflow with a third identifier of a third process that is executing on thenetwork device and associated with the third network flow, thus yieldinga third labeled control flow. Finally, the third capturing agent cantransmit the third labeled control flow to the collector via thenetwork.

Description

The disclosed technology addresses the need in the art for understandingdata reported from capturing agents on a virtualized network. Disclosedare systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media fordetermining relative placement and topology of capturing agents deployedthroughout a network. A description of an example network environment,as illustrated in FIG. 1, is first disclosed herein. A discussion ofcapturing agents and capturing agent topologies in virtualizedenvironments, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-C, will then follow. Thediscussion follows with a discussion of mechanisms for determiningrelative placement and topology information for capturing agents in anetwork environment, as illustrated in FIGS. 3-7. Then, example methodspracticed according to the various embodiments disclosed herein will bediscussed, as illustrated in FIGS. 9-10. The discussion then concludeswith a description of example devices, as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and11A-B. These variations shall be described herein as the variousembodiments are set forth. The disclosure now turns to FIG. 1.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of example network environment 100. Fabric112 can represent the underlay (i.e., physical network) of networkenvironment 100. Fabric 112 can include spine routers 1-N (102 _(A-N))(collectively “102”) and leaf routers 1-N (104 _(A-N)) (collectively“104”). Leaf routers 104 can reside at the edge of fabric 112, and canthus represent the physical network edges. Leaf routers 104 can be, forexample, top-of-rack (“ToR”) switches, aggregation switches, gateways,ingress and/or egress switches, provider edge devices, and/or any othertype of routing or switching device.

Leaf routers 104 can be responsible for routing and/or bridging tenantor endpoint packets and applying network policies. Spine routers 102 canperform switching and routing within fabric 112. Thus, networkconnectivity in fabric 112 can flow from spine routers 102 to leafrouters 104, and vice versa.

Leaf routers 104 can provide servers 1-5 (106 _(A-E)) (collectively“106”), hypervisors 1-4 (108 _(A)-108 _(D)) (collectively “108”), andvirtual machines (VMs) 1-5 (110 _(A)-110 _(E)) (collectively “110”)access to fabric 112. For example, leaf routers 104 can encapsulate anddecapsulate packets to and from servers 106 in order to enablecommunications throughout environment 100. Leaf routers 104 can alsoconnect other devices, such as device 114, with fabric 112. Device 114can be any network-capable device(s) or network(s), such as a firewall,a database, a server, a collector 118 (further described below), anengine 120 (further described below), etc. Leaf routers 104 can alsoprovide any other servers, resources, endpoints, external networks, VMs,services, tenants, or workloads with access to fabric 112.

VMs 110 can be virtual machines hosted by hypervisors 108 running onservers 106. VMs 110 can include workloads running on a guest operatingsystem on a respective server. Hypervisors 108 can provide a layer ofsoftware, firmware, and/or hardware that creates and runs the VMs 110.Hypervisors 108 can allow VMs 110 to share hardware resources on servers106, and the hardware resources on servers 106 to appear as multiple,separate hardware platforms. Moreover, hypervisors 108 and servers 106can host one or more VMs 110. For example, server 106 _(A) andhypervisor 108 _(A) can host VMs 110 _(A-B).

In some cases, VMs 110 and/or hypervisors 108 can be migrated to otherservers 106. For example, VM 110 _(A) can be migrated to server 106 cand hypervisor 108 _(B). Servers 106 can similarly be migrated to otherlocations in network environment 100. For example, a server connected toa specific leaf router can be changed to connect to a different oradditional leaf router. In some cases, some or all of servers 106,hypervisors 108, and/or VMs 110 can represent tenant space. Tenant spacecan include workloads, services, applications, devices, and/or resourcesthat are associated with one or more clients or subscribers.Accordingly, traffic in network environment 100 can be routed based onspecific tenant policies, spaces, agreements, configurations, etc.Moreover, addressing can vary between one or more tenants. In someconfigurations, tenant spaces can be divided into logical segmentsand/or networks and separated from logical segments and/or networksassociated with other tenants.

Any of leaf routers 104, servers 106, hypervisors 108, and VMs 110 caninclude capturing agent 116 (also referred to as a “sensor”) configuredto capture network data, and report any portion of the captured data tocollector 118. Capturing agents 116 can be processes, agents, modules,drivers, or components deployed on a respective system (e.g., a server,VM, hypervisor, leaf router, etc.), configured to capture network datafor the respective system (e.g., data received or transmitted by therespective system), and report some or all of the captured data tocollector 118.

For example, a VM capturing agent can run as a process, kernel module,or kernel driver on the guest operating system installed in a VM andconfigured to capture data (e.g., network and/or system data) processed(e.g., sent, received, generated, etc.) by the VM. Additionally, ahypervisor capturing agent can run as a process, kernel module, orkernel driver on the host operating system installed at the hypervisorlayer and configured to capture data (e.g., network and/or system data)processed (e.g., sent, received, generated, etc.) by the hypervisor. Aserver capturing agent can run as a process, kernel module, or kerneldriver on the host operating system of a server and configured tocapture data (e.g., network and/or system data) processed (e.g., sent,received, generated, etc.) by the server. And a network device capturingagent can run as a process or component in a network device, such asleaf routers 104, and configured to capture data (e.g., network and/orsystem data) processed (e.g., sent, received, generated, etc.) by thenetwork device.

Capturing agents 116 or sensors can be configured to report the observeddata and/or metadata about one or more packets, flows, communications,processes, events, and/or activities to collector 118. For example,capturing agents 116 can capture network data as well as informationabout the system or host of the capturing agents 116 (e.g., where thecapturing agents 116 are deployed). Such information can also include,for example, data or metadata of active or previously active processesof the system, operating system user identifiers, metadata of files onthe system, system alerts, networking information, etc. Capturing agents116 may also analyze all the processes running on the respective VMs,hypervisors, servers, or network devices to determine specifically whichprocess is responsible for a particular flow of network traffic.Similarly, capturing agents 116 may determine which operating systemuser(s) is responsible for a given flow. Reported data from capturingagents 116 can provide details or statistics particular to one or moretenants. For example, reported data from a subset of capturing agents116 deployed throughout devices or elements in a tenant space canprovide information about the performance, use, quality, events,processes, security status, characteristics, statistics, patterns,conditions, configurations, topology, and/or any other information forthe particular tenant space.

Collectors 118 can be one or more devices, modules, workloads and/orprocesses capable of receiving data from capturing agents 116.Collectors 118 can thus collect reports and data from capturing agents116. Collectors 118 can be deployed anywhere in network environment 100and/or even on remote networks capable of communicating with networkenvironment 100. For example, one or more collectors can be deployedwithin fabric 112 or on one or more of the servers 106. One or morecollectors can be deployed outside of fabric 112 but connected to one ormore leaf routers 104. Collectors 118 can be part of servers 106 and/orseparate servers or devices (e.g., device 114). Collectors 118 can alsobe implemented in a cluster of servers.

Collectors 118 can be configured to collect data from capturing agents116. In addition, collectors 118 can be implemented in one or moreservers in a distributed fashion. As previously noted, collectors 118can include one or more collectors. Moreover, each collector can beconfigured to receive reported data from all capturing agents 116 or asubset of capturing agents 116. For example, a collector can be assignedto a subset of capturing agents 116 so the data received by thatspecific collector is limited to data from the subset of capturingagents.

Collectors 118 can be configured to aggregate data from all capturingagents 116 and/or a subset of capturing agents 116. Moreover, collectors118 can be configured to analyze some or all of the data reported bycapturing agents 116. For example, collectors 118 can include analyticsengines (e.g., engines 120) for analyzing collected data. Environment100 can also include separate analytics engines 120 configured toanalyze the data reported to collectors 118. For example, engines 120can be configured to receive collected data from collectors 118 andaggregate the data, analyze the data (individually and/or aggregated),generate reports, identify conditions, compute statistics, visualizereported data, troubleshoot conditions, visualize the network and/orportions of the network (e.g., a tenant space), generate alerts,identify patterns, calculate misconfigurations, identify errors,generate suggestions, generate testing, and/or perform any otheranalytics functions.

While collectors 118 and engines 120 are shown as separate entities,this is for illustration purposes as other configurations are alsocontemplated herein. For example, any of collectors 118 and engines 120can be part of a same or separate entity. Moreover, any of thecollector, aggregation, and analytics functions can be implemented byone entity (e.g., collectors 118) or separately implemented by multipleentities (e.g., engine 120 and/or collectors 118).

Each of the capturing agents 116 can use a respective address (e.g.,internet protocol (IP) address, port number, etc.) of their host to sendinformation to collectors 118 and/or any other destination. Collectors118 may also be associated with their respective addresses such as IPaddresses. Moreover, capturing agents 116 can periodically sendinformation about flows they observe to collectors 118. Capturing agents116 can be configured to report each and every flow they observe.Capturing agents 116 can report a list of flows that were active duringa period of time (e.g., between the current time and the time of thelast report). The consecutive periods of time of observance can berepresented as pre-defined or adjustable time series. The series can beadjusted to a specific level of granularity. Thus, the time periods canbe adjusted to control the level of details in statistics and can becustomized based on specific requirements, such as security,scalability, storage, etc. The time series information can also beimplemented to focus on more important flows or components (e.g., VMs)by varying the time intervals. The communication channel between acapturing agent and collector 118 can also create a flow in everyreporting interval. Thus, the information transmitted or reported bycapturing agents 116 can also include information about the flow createdby the communication channel.

FIG. 2A illustrates a schematic diagram of an example capturing agentdeployment 200 in a virtualized environment. Server 106 _(A) can executeand host one or more VMs 202 _(A-C) (collectively “202”). VMs 202 _(A-C)can be similar to VMs 110 _(A-E) of FIG. 1. For example, VM 1 (202 _(A))of FIG. 2A can be VM 1 (110 _(A)) of FIG. 1, and so forth. VMs 202 canbe configured to run workloads (e.g., applications, services, processes,functions, etc.) based on hardware resources 212 on server 106 _(A). VMs202 can run on guest operating systems 206 _(A-C) (collectively “206”)on a virtual operating platform provided by hypervisor 208. Each VM 202can run a respective guest operating system 206 which can be the same ordifferent as other guest operating systems 206 associated with other VMs202 on server 106 _(A). Each of guest operating systems 206 can executeone or more processes, which may in turn be programs, applications,modules, drivers, services, widgets, etc. Each of guest operatingsystems 206 may also be associated with one or more user accounts. Forexample, many popular operating systems such as LINUX, UNIX, WINDOWS,MAC OS, etc., offer multi-user environments where one or more users canuse the system concurrently and share software/hardware resources. Oneor more users can sign in or log in to their user accounts associatedwith the operating system and run various workloads. Moreover, each VM202 can have one or more network addresses, such as an internet protocol(IP) address. VMs 202 can thus communicate with hypervisor 208, server106 _(A), and/or any remote devices or networks using the one or morenetwork addresses.

Hypervisor 208 (otherwise known as a virtual machine monitor) can be alayer of software, firmware, and/or hardware that creates and runs VMs202. Guest operating systems 206 running on VMs 202 can sharevirtualized hardware resources created by hypervisor 208. Thevirtualized hardware resources can provide the illusion of separatehardware components. Moreover, the virtualized hardware resources canperform as physical hardware components (e.g., memory, storage,processor, network interface, etc.), and can be driven by hardwareresources 212 on server 106 _(A). Hypervisor 208 can have one or morenetwork addresses, such as an internet protocol (IP) address, tocommunicate with other devices, components, or networks. For example,hypervisor 208 can have a dedicated IP address which it can use tocommunicate with VMs 202, server 106 _(A), and/or any remote devices ornetworks.

Hardware resources 212 of server 106 _(A) can provide the underlyingphysical hardware that drive operations and functionalities provided byserver 106 _(A), hypervisor 208, and VMs 202. Hardware resources 212 caninclude, for example, one or more memory resources, one or more storageresources, one or more communication interfaces, one or more processors,one or more circuit boards, one or more buses, one or more extensioncards, one or more power supplies, one or more antennas, one or moreperipheral components, etc. Additional examples of hardware resourcesare described below with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11A-B.

Server 106 _(A) can also include one or more host operating systems (notshown). The number of host operating system can vary by configuration.For example, some configurations can include a dual boot configurationthat allows server 106 _(A) to boot into one of multiple host operatingsystems. In other configurations, server 106 _(A) may run a single hostoperating system. Host operating systems can run on hardware resources212. In some cases, hypervisor 208 can run on, or utilize, a hostoperating system on server 106 _(A). Each of the host operating systemscan execute one or more processes, which may be programs, applications,modules, drivers, services, widgets, etc. Each of the host operatingsystems may also be associated with one or more OS user accounts.

Server 106 _(A) can also have one or more network addresses, such as aninternet protocol (IP) address, to communicate with other devices,components, or networks. For example, server 106 _(A) can have an IPaddress assigned to a communications interface from hardware resources212, which it can use to communicate with VMs 202, hypervisor 208, leafrouter 104 _(A) in FIG. 1, collectors 118 in FIG. 1, and/or any remotedevices or networks.

VM capturing agents 204 _(A-C) (collectively “204”) can be deployed onone or more of VMs 202. VM capturing agents 204 can be data and packetinspection agents or sensors deployed on VMs 202 to capture packets,flows, processes, events, traffic, and/or any data flowing into, out of,or through VMs 202. VM capturing agents 204 can be configured to exportor report any data collected or captured by the capturing agents 204 toa remote entity, such as collectors 118, for example. VM capturingagents 204 can communicate or report such data using a network addressof the respective VMs 202 (e.g., VM IP address).

VM capturing agents 204 can capture and report any traffic (e.g.,packets, flows, etc.) sent, received, generated, and/or processed by VMs202. For example, capturing agents 204 can report every packet or flowof communication sent and received by VMs 202. Such communicationchannel between capturing agents 204 and collectors 108 creates a flowin every monitoring period or interval and the flow generated bycapturing agents 204 may be denoted as a control flow. Moreover, anycommunication sent or received by VMs 202, including data reported fromcapturing agents 204, can create a network flow. VM capturing agents 204can report such flows in the form of a control flow to a remote device,such as collectors 118 illustrated in FIG. 1. VM capturing agents 204can report each flow separately or aggregated with other flows. Whenreporting a flow via a control flow, VM capturing agents 204 can includea capturing agent identifier that identifies capturing agents 204 asreporting the associated flow. VM capturing agents 204 can also includein the control flow a flow identifier, an IP address, a timestamp,metadata, a process ID, an OS username associated with the process ID,and any other information, as further described below. In addition,capturing agents 204 can append the process and user information (i.e.,which process and/or user is associated with a particular flow) to thecontrol flow. The additional information as identified above can beapplied to the control flow as labels. Alternatively, the additionalinformation can be included as part of a header, a trailer, or apayload.

VM capturing agents 204 can also report multiple flows as a set offlows. When reporting a set of flows, VM capturing agents 204 caninclude a flow identifier for the set of flows and/or a flow identifierfor each flow in the set of flows. VM capturing agents 204 can alsoinclude one or more timestamps and other information as previouslyexplained.

VM capturing agents 204 can run as a process, kernel module, or kerneldriver on guest operating systems 206 of VMs 202. VM capturing agents204 can thus monitor any traffic sent, received, or processed by VMs202, any processes running on guest operating systems 206, any users anduser activities on guest operating system 206, any workloads on VMs 202,etc.

Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can be deployed on hypervisor 208.Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can be a data inspection agent or asensor deployed on hypervisor 208 to capture traffic (e.g., packets,flows, etc.) and/or data flowing through hypervisor 208. Hypervisorcapturing agent 210 can be configured to export or report any datacollected or captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210 to a remoteentity, such as collectors 118, for example. Hypervisor capturing agent210 can communicate or report such data using a network address ofhypervisor 208, such as an IP address of hypervisor 208.

Because hypervisor 208 can see traffic and data originating from VMs202, hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also capture and report any data(e.g., traffic data) associated with VMs 202. For example, hypervisorcapturing agent 210 can report every packet or flow of communicationsent or received by VMs 202 and/or VM capturing agents 204. Moreover,any communication sent or received by hypervisor 208, including datareported from hypervisor capturing agent 210, can create a network flow.Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can report such flows in the form of acontrol flow to a remote device, such as collectors 118 illustrated inFIG. 1. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can report each flow separatelyand/or in combination with other flows or data. When reporting a flow,hypervisor capturing agent 210 can include a capturing agent identifierthat identifies hypervisor capturing agent 210 as reporting the flow.Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also include in the control flow aflow identifier, an IP address, a timestamp, metadata, a process ID, andany other information, as explained below. In addition, capturing agents210 can append the process and user information (i.e., which processand/or user is associated with a particular flow) to the control flow.The additional information as identified above can be applied to thecontrol flow as labels. Alternatively, the additional information can beincluded as part of a header, a trailer, or a payload.

Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also report multiple flows as a setof flows. When reporting a set of flows, hypervisor capturing agent 210can include a flow identifier for the set of flows and/or a flowidentifier for each flow in the set of flows. Hypervisor capturing agent210 can also include one or more timestamps and other information aspreviously explained, such as process and user information.

As previously explained, any communication captured or reported by VMcapturing agents 204 can flow through hypervisor 208. Thus, hypervisorcapturing agent 210 can observe and capture any flows or packetsreported by VM capturing agents 204, including any control flows.Accordingly, hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also report any packetsor flows reported by VM capturing agents 204 and any control flowsgenerated by VM capturing agents 204. For example, VM capturing agent204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)) captures flow 1 (“F1”) and reports F1 tocollector 118 on FIG. 1. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 on hypervisor208 can also see and capture F1, as F1 would traverse hypervisor 208when being sent or received by VM 1 (202 _(A)). Accordingly, hypervisorcapturing agent 210 on hypervisor 208 can also report F1 to collector118. Thus, collector 118 can receive a report of F1 from VM capturingagent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)) and another report of F1 fromhypervisor capturing agent 210 on hypervisor 208.

When reporting F1, hypervisor capturing agent 210 can report F1 as amessage or report that is separate from the message or report of F1transmitted by VM capturing agent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)). However,hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also, or otherwise, report F1 as amessage or report that includes or appends the message or report of F1transmitted by VM capturing agent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)). In otherwords, hypervisor capturing agent 210 can report F1 as a separatemessage or report from VM capturing agent 204 _(A)'s message or reportof F1, and/or a same message or report that includes both a report of F1by hypervisor capturing agent 210 and the report of F1 by VM capturingagent 204 _(A) at VM 1 (202 _(A)). In this way, VM capturing agents 204at VMs 202 can report packets or flows received or sent by VMs 202, andhypervisor capturing agent 210 at hypervisor 208 can report packets orflows received or sent by hypervisor 208, including any flows or packetsreceived or sent by VMs 202 and/or reported by VM capturing agents 204.

Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can run as a process, kernel module, orkernel driver on the host operating system associated with hypervisor208. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can thus monitor any traffic sentand received by hypervisor 208, any processes associated with hypervisor208, etc.

Server 106 _(A) can also have server capturing agent 214 running on it.Server capturing agent 214 can be a data inspection agent or sensordeployed on server 106 _(A) to capture data (e.g., packets, flows,traffic data, etc.) on server 106 _(A). Server capturing agent 214 canbe configured to export or report any data collected or captured byserver capturing agent 214 to a remote entity, such as collector 118,for example. Server capturing agent 214 can communicate or report suchdata using a network address of server 106 _(A), such as an IP addressof server 106 _(A).

Server capturing agent 214 can capture and report any packet or flow ofcommunication associated with server 106 _(A). For example, capturingagent 216 can report every packet or flow of communication sent orreceived by one or more communication interfaces of server 106 _(A).Moreover, any communication sent or received by server 106 _(A),including data reported from capturing agents 204 and 210, can create anetwork flow associated with server 106 _(A). Server capturing agent 214can report such flows in the form of a control flow to a remote device,such as collector 118 illustrated in FIG. 1. Server capturing agent 214can report each flow separately or in combination. When reporting aflow, server capturing agent 214 can include a capturing agentidentifier that identifies server capturing agent 214 as reporting theassociated flow. Server capturing agent 214 can also include in thecontrol flow a flow identifier, an IP address, a timestamp, metadata, aprocess ID, and any other information. In addition, capturing agent 214can append the process and user information (i.e., which process and/oruser is associated with a particular flow) to the control flow. Theadditional information as identified above can be applied to the controlflow as labels. Alternatively, the additional information can beincluded as part of a header, a trailer, or a payload.

Server capturing agent 214 can also report multiple flows as a set offlows. When reporting a set of flows, server capturing agent 214 caninclude a flow identifier for the set of flows and/or a flow identifierfor each flow in the set of flows. Server capturing agent 214 can alsoinclude one or more timestamps and other information as previouslyexplained.

Any communications captured or reported by capturing agents 204 and 210can flow through server 106 _(A). Thus, server capturing agent 214 canobserve or capture any flows or packets reported by capturing agents 204and 210. In other words, network data observed by capturing agents 204and 210 inside VMs 202 and hypervisor 208 can be a subset of the dataobserved by server capturing agent 214 on server 106 _(A). Accordingly,server capturing agent 214 can report any packets or flows reported bycapturing agents 204 and 210 and any control flows generated bycapturing agents 204 and 210. For example, capturing agent 204 _(A) onVM 1 (202 _(A)) captures flow 1 (F1) and reports F1 to collector 118 asillustrated on FIG. 1. Capturing agent 210 on hypervisor 208 can alsoobserve and capture F1, as F1 would traverse hypervisor 208 when beingsent or received by VM 1 (202 _(A)). In addition, capturing agent 214 onserver 106 _(A) can also see and capture F1, as F1 would traverse server106 _(A) when being sent or received by VM 1 (202 _(A)) and hypervisor208. Accordingly, capturing agent 214 can also report F1 to collector118. Thus, collector 118 can receive a report (i.e., control flow)regarding F1 from capturing agent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)), capturingagent 210 on hypervisor 208, and capturing agent 214 on server 106 _(A).

When reporting F1, server capturing agent 214 can report F1 as a messageor report that is separate from any messages or reports of F1transmitted by capturing agent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)) or capturingagent 210 on hypervisor 208. However, server capturing agent 214 canalso, or otherwise, report F1 as a message or report that includes orappends the messages or reports or metadata of F1 transmitted bycapturing agent 204 _(A) on VM 1 (202 _(A)) and capturing agent 210 onhypervisor 208. In other words, server capturing agent 214 can report F1as a separate message or report from the messages or reports of F1 fromcapturing agent 204 _(A) and capturing agent 210, and/or a same messageor report that includes a report of F1 by capturing agent 204 _(A),capturing agent 210, and capturing agent 214. In this way, capturingagents 204 at VMs 202 can report packets or flows received or sent byVMs 202, capturing agent 210 at hypervisor 208 can report packets orflows received or sent by hypervisor 208, including any flows or packetsreceived or sent by VMs 202 and reported by capturing agents 204, andcapturing agent 214 at server 106 _(A) can report packets or flowsreceived or sent by server 106 _(A), including any flows or packetsreceived or sent by VMs 202 and reported by capturing agents 204, andany flows or packets received or sent by hypervisor 208 and reported bycapturing agent 210.

Server capturing agent 214 can run as a process, kernel module, orkernel driver on the host operating system or a hardware component ofserver 106 _(A). Server capturing agent 214 can thus monitor any trafficsent and received by server 106 _(A), any processes associated withserver 106 _(A), etc.

In addition to network data, capturing agents 204, 210, and 214 cancapture additional information about the system or environment in whichthey reside. For example, capturing agents 204, 210, and 214 can capturedata or metadata of active or previously active processes of theirrespective system or environment, operating system user identifiers,metadata of files on their respective system or environment, timestamps,network addressing information, flow identifiers, capturing agentidentifiers, etc. Moreover, capturing agents 204, 210, 214 are notspecific to any operating system environment, hypervisor environment,network environment, or hardware environment. Thus, capturing agents204, 210, and 214 can operate in any environment.

As previously explained, capturing agents 204, 210, and 214 can sendinformation about the network traffic they observe. This information canbe sent to one or more remote devices, such as one or more servers,collectors, engines, etc. Each capturing agent can be configured to sendrespective information using a network address, such as an IP address,and any other communication details, such as port number, to one or moredestination addresses or locations. Capturing agents 204, 210, and 214can send metadata about one or more flows, packets, communications,processes, events, etc.

Capturing agents 204, 210, and 214 can periodically report informationabout each flow or packet they observe. The information reported cancontain a list of flows or packets that were active during a period oftime (e.g., between the current time and the time at which the lastinformation was reported). The communication channel between thecapturing agent and the destination can create a flow in every interval.For example, the communication channel between capturing agent 214 andcollector 118 can create a control flow. Thus, the information reportedby a capturing agent can also contain information about this controlflow. For example, the information reported by capturing agent 214 tocollector 118 can include a list of flows or packets that were active athypervisor 208 during a period of time, as well as information about thecommunication channel between capturing agent 210 and collector 118 usedto report the information by capturing agent 210.

FIG. 2B illustrates a schematic diagram of example capturing agentdeployment 220 in an example network device. The network device isdescribed as leaf router 104 _(A), as illustrated in FIG. 1. However,this is for explanation purposes. The network device can be any othernetwork device, such as any other switch, router, etc.

In this example, leaf router 104 _(A) can include network resources 222,such as memory, storage, communication, processing, input, output, andother types of resources. Leaf router 104 _(A) can also includeoperating system environment 224. The operating system environment 224can include any operating system, such as a network operating system,embedded operating system, etc. Operating system environment 224 caninclude processes, functions, and applications for performingnetworking, routing, switching, forwarding, policy implementation,messaging, monitoring, and other types of operations.

Leaf router 104 _(A) can also include capturing agent 226. Capturingagent 226 can be an agent or sensor configured to capture network data,such as flows or packets, sent received, or processed by leaf router 104_(A). Capturing agent 226 can also be configured to capture otherinformation, such as processes, statistics, users, alerts, statusinformation, device information, etc. Moreover, capturing agent 226 canbe configured to report captured data to a remote device or network,such as collector 118 shown in FIG. 1, for example. Capturing agent 226can report information using one or more network addresses associatedwith leaf router 104 _(A) or collector 118. For example, capturing agent226 can be configured to report information using an IP assigned to anactive communications interface on leaf router 104 _(A).

Leaf router 104 _(A) can be configured to route traffic to and fromother devices or networks, such as server 106 _(A). Accordingly,capturing agent 226 can also report data reported by other capturingagents on other devices. For example, leaf router 104 _(A) can beconfigured to route traffic sent and received by server 106 _(A) toother devices. Thus, data reported from capturing agents deployed onserver 106 _(A), such as VM and hypervisor capturing agents on server106 _(A), would also be observed by capturing agent 226 and can thus bereported by capturing agent 226 as data observed at leaf router 104_(A). Such report can be a control flow generated by capturing agent226. Data reported by the VM and hypervisor capturing agents on server106 _(A) can therefore be a subset of the data reported by capturingagent 226.

Capturing agent 226 can run as a process or component (e.g., firmware,module, hardware device, etc.) in leaf router 104 _(A). Moreover,capturing agent 226 can be installed on leaf router 104 _(A) as asoftware or firmware agent. In some configurations, leaf router 104 _(A)itself can act as capturing agent 226. Moreover, capturing agent 226 canrun within operating system 224 and/or separate from operating system224.

FIG. 2C illustrates a schematic diagram of example reporting system 240in an example capturing agent topology. Leaf router 104 _(A) can routepackets or traffic 242 between fabric 112 and server 106 _(A),hypervisor 108 _(A), and VM 110 _(A). Packets or traffic 242 between VM110 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A) can flow through hypervisor 108 _(A)and server 106 _(A). Packets or traffic 242 between hypervisor 108 _(A)and leaf router 104 _(A) can flow through server 106 _(A). Finally,packets or traffic 242 between server 106 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A)can flow directly to leaf router 104 _(A). However, in some cases,packets or traffic 242 between server 106 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A)can flow through one or more intervening devices or networks, such as aswitch or a firewall.

Moreover, VM capturing agent 204 _(A) at VM 110 _(A), hypervisorcapturing agent 210 at hypervisor 108 _(A), network device capturingagent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A), and any server capturing agent atserver 106 _(A) (e.g., capturing agent running on host environment ofserver 106 _(A)) can send reports 244 (also referred to as controlflows) to collector 118 based on the packets or traffic 242 captured ateach respective capturing agent. Reports 244 from VM capturing agent 204_(A) to collector 118 can flow through VM 109 _(A), hypervisor 108 _(A),server 106 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A). Reports 244 from hypervisorcapturing agent 210 to collector 118 can flow through hypervisor 108_(A), server 106 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A). Reports 244 from anyother server capturing agent at server 106 _(A) to collector 118 canflow through server 106 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A). Finally, reports244 from network device capturing agent 226 to collector 118 can flowthrough leaf router 104 _(A). Although reports 244 are depicted as beingrouted separately from traffic 242 in FIG. 2C, one of ordinary skill inthe art will understand that reports 244 and traffic 242 can betransmitted through the same communication channel(s).

Reports 244 can include any portion of packets or traffic 242 capturedat the respective capturing agents. Reports 244 can also include otherinformation, such as timestamps, process information, capturing agentidentifiers, flow identifiers, flow statistics, notifications, logs,user information, system information, etc. Some or all of thisinformation can be appended to reports 244 as one or more labels,metadata, or as part of the packet(s)' header, trailer, or payload. Forexample, if a user opens a browser on VM 110 _(A) and navigates toexamplewebsite.com, VM capturing agent 204 _(A) of VM 110 _(A) candetermine which user (i.e., operating system user) of VM 110 _(A) (e.g.,username “johndoe85”) and which process being executed on the operatingsystem of VM 110 _(A) (e.g., “chrome.exe”) were responsible for theparticular network flow to and from examplewebsite.com. Once suchinformation is determined, the information can be included in report 244as labels for example, and report 244 can be transmitted from VMcapturing agent 204 _(A) to collector 118. Such additional informationcan help system 240 to gain insight into flow information at the processand user level, for instance. This information can be used for security,optimization, and determining structures and dependencies within system240. Moreover, reports 244 can be transmitted to collector 118periodically as new packets or traffic 242 are captured by a capturingagent. Further, each capturing agent can send a single report ormultiple reports to collector 118. For example, each of the capturingagents 116 can be configured to send a report to collector 118 for everyflow, packet, message, communication, or network data received,transmitted, and/or generated by its respective host (e.g., VM 110 _(A),hypervisor 108 _(A), server 106 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A)). Assuch, collector 118 can receive a report of a same packet from multiplecapturing agents.

For example, a packet received by VM 110 _(A) from fabric 112 can becaptured and reported by VM capturing agent 204 _(A). Since the packetreceived by VM 110 _(A) will also flow through leaf router 104 _(A) andhypervisor 108 _(A), it can also be captured and reported by hypervisorcapturing agent 210 and network device capturing agent 226. Thus, for apacket received by VM 110 _(A) from fabric 112, collector 118 canreceive a report of the packet from VM capturing agent 204 _(A),hypervisor capturing agent 210, and network device capturing agent 226.

Similarly, a packet sent by VM 110 _(A) to fabric 112 can be capturedand reported by VM capturing agent 204 _(A). Since the packet sent by VM110 _(A) will also flow through leaf router 104 _(A) and hypervisor 108_(A), it can also be captured and reported by hypervisor capturing agent210 and network device capturing agent 226. Thus, for a packet sent byVM 110 _(A) to fabric 112, collector 118 can receive a report of thepacket from VM capturing agent 204 _(A), hypervisor capturing agent 210,and network device capturing agent 226.

On the other hand, a packet originating at, or destined to, hypervisor108 _(A), can be captured and reported by hypervisor capturing agent 210and network device capturing agent 226, but not VM capturing agent 204_(A), as such packet may not flow through VM 110 _(A). Moreover, apacket originating at, or destined to, leaf router 104 _(A), will becaptured and reported by network device capturing agent 226, but not VMcapturing agent 204 _(A), hypervisor capturing agent 210, or any othercapturing agent on server 106 _(A), as such packet may not flow throughVM 110 _(A), hypervisor 108 _(A), or server 106 _(A).

Each of the capturing agents 204 _(A), 210, 226 can include a respectiveunique capturing agent identifier on each of reports 244 it sends tocollector 118, to allow collector 118 to determine which capturing agentsent the report. Reports 244 can be used to analyze network and/orsystem data and conditions for troubleshooting, security, visualization,configuration, planning, and management. Capturing agent identifiers inreports 244 can also be used to determine which capturing agentsreported what flows. This information can then be used to determinecapturing agent placement and topology, as further described below, aswell as mapping individual flows to processes and users. Such additionalinsights gained can be useful for analyzing the data in reports 244, aswell as troubleshooting, security, visualization, configuration,planning, and management.

FIGS. 3A-F illustrate schematic diagrams of example configurations forreporting flows captured by capturing agents in an example capturingagent topology. Referring to FIG. 3A, leaf router 104 _(A) can receiveflow 302 from fabric 112. In this example, flow 302 is destined to VM110 _(A). Leaf router 104 _(A) can thus forward flow 302 received fromfabric 112 to server 106 _(A) and hypervisor 108 _(A). Network devicecapturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A) can thus capture flow 302,and send a new control flow 304, reporting the received flow 302, tocollector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 may include in controlflow 304 any additional information such as process information and userinformation related to leaf router 104 _(A) and flow 302.

Server 106 _(A) and hypervisor 108 _(A) can receive flow 302 from leafrouter 104 _(A). Hypervisor 108A can then forward the received flow 302to VM 110 _(A). Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also capture thereceived flow 302 and send a new control flow 306, reporting thereceived flow 302, to collector 118. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 mayinclude in control flow 306 any additional information such as processinformation and user information related to hypervisor 108 _(A) and flow302. Leaf router 104 _(A) can receive control flow 306, reporting flow302, originating from hypervisor capturing agent 210, and forward flow306 to collector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 can alsocapture control flow 306 received from hypervisor capturing agent 210,and send a new control flow 308, reporting flow 306, to collector 118.Again, network device capturing agent 226 may include in control flow308 any additional information such as process information and userinformation related to network device 104 _(A) and flow 306.

Moreover, VM 110 _(A) can receive flow 302 from hypervisor 108 _(A). Atthis point, flow 302 has reached its intended destination: VM 110 _(A).Accordingly, VM 110 _(A) can then process flow 302. Once flow 302 isreceived by VM 110 _(A), VM capturing agent 204 _(A) can capturereceived flow 302 and send a new control flow 310, reporting the receiptof flow 302, to collector 118. VM capturing agent 204 _(A) can includein control flow 310 any additional information such as processinformation and user information related to VM 110 _(A) and flow 302.

Hypervisor 108 _(A) can receive control flow 310 from VM capturing agent204 _(A), and forward it to leaf router 104 _(A). Hypervisor capturingagent 210 can also capture flow 310, received from VM capturing agent204 _(A) and reporting the receipt of flow 302, and send a new controlflow 312, reporting flow 310, to collector 118. Hypervisor capturingagent 210 may include in control flow 312 any additional informationsuch as process information and user information related to hypervisor108 _(A) and flow 310.

Leaf router 104 _(A) can receive flow 310 forwarded from hypervisor 108_(A), and forward it to collector 118. Network device capturing agent226 can also capture flow 310, forwarded from hypervisor capturing agent210 and reporting the receipt of flow 302 at VM 110 _(A), and send a newcontrol flow 314, reporting flow 310, to collector 118. Network devicecapturing agent 226 may include in control flow 314 any additionalinformation such as process information and user information related tonetwork device 104 _(A) and flow 310.

Leaf router 104 _(A) can receive packet 312 from hypervisor capturingagent 210 and forward it to collector 118. Network device capturingagent 226 can also capture flow 312 and send a new control flow 316,reporting flow 312, to collector 118. Network device capturing agent 226may include in control flow 316 any additional information such asprocess information and user information related to network device 104_(A) and flow 312.

As described above, in this example, flow 302 destined from fabric 112to VM 110 _(A), can be reported by network device capturing agent 226,hypervisor capturing agent 210, and VM capturing agent 204 _(A) tocollector 118. In addition, hypervisor capturing agent 210 and networkdevice capturing agent 226 can each report the communication from VM 110_(A) to collector 118, reporting flow 302 to collector 118. Moreover,network device capturing agent 226 can report any communications fromhypervisor capturing agent 210 reporting flows or communicationscaptured by hypervisor capturing agent 210. As one of skill in the artwill understand, the order in which control flows 304, 306, 308, 310,312, 314, 316 are reported to collector 118 need not occur in the sameorder that is presented in this disclosure as long as each control flowis transmitted or forwarded to another device after the flow which thecontrol flow is reporting is received. For example, control flow 314,which reports flow 310, may be transmitted to collector 118 eitherbefore or after each of control flows 308, 312, 316 is transmitted orforwarded to collector 118 as long as control flow 314 is transmittedsometime after flow 310 is received at leaf router 104 _(A). Thisapplies to other control flows illustrated throughout disclosureespecially those shown in FIGS. 3A-3F. In addition, other capturingagents such as a server capturing agent (not shown) for 106 _(A) mayalso capture and report any traffic or flows that server 106 _(A) maysend, receive, or otherwise process.

Referring to FIG. 3B, leaf router 104 _(A) can receive flow 324 fromfabric 112. In this example, flow 324 is destined for hypervisor 108_(A). Leaf router 104 _(A) can thus forward the flow 324 received fromfabric 112 to server 106 _(A) and hypervisor 108 _(A), network devicecapturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A) can also capture the flow324, and send a new control flow 318, reporting the received flow 324,to collector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 may include incontrol flow 318 any additional information such as process informationand user information related to network device 104 _(A) and flow 324.

Server 106 _(A) and hypervisor 108 _(A) can receive flow 324 from leafrouter 104 _(A). Hypervisor 108A can process received flow 324.Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also capture received flow 324 andsend a new control flow 320, reporting received flow 324, to collector118. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 may include in control flow 320 anyadditional information such as process information and user informationrelated to hypervisor 108 _(A) and flow 324. Leaf router 104 _(A) canreceive flow 320, reporting flow 324, from hypervisor capturing agent210, and forward control flow 320 to collector 118. Network devicecapturing agent 226 can also capture flow 320 received from hypervisorcapturing agent 210, and send a new control flow 322, reporting flow320, to collector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 may include incontrol flow 322 any additional information such as process informationand user information related to network device 104 _(A) and flow 320.

As described above, in this example, flow 324 destined from fabric 112to hypervisor 108 _(A), can be reported by network device capturingagent 226 and hypervisor capturing agent 210 to collector 118. Inaddition, network device capturing agent 226 can report thecommunication from hypervisor 108 _(A) to collector 118, reporting flow324 to collector 118.

Referring to FIG. 3C, leaf router 104 _(A) can receive flow 326 fromfabric 112. In this example, flow 326 is destined for leaf router 104_(A). Thus, leaf router 104 _(A) can process flow 326, and networkdevice capturing agent 226 can capture flow 326, and send a new controlflow 328, reporting the received flow 326, to collector 118. Networkdevice capturing agent 226 may include in control flow 328 anyadditional information such as process information and user informationrelated to network device 104 _(A) and flow 326.

Referring to FIG. 3D, VM 110 _(A) can send flow 330 to fabric 112.Hypervisor 108 _(A) can receive flow 330 and forward it to leaf router104 _(A). Leaf router 104 _(A) can receive flow 330 and forward it tofabric 112.

VM capturing agent 204 _(A) can also capture flow 330 and send a newcontrol flow 332, reporting flow 330, to collector 118. VM capturingagent 204 _(A) may include in control flow 332 any additionalinformation such as process information and user information related toVM 110 _(A) and flow 330. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can alsocapture flow 330 and send a new control flow 334, reporting flow 330, tocollector 118. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 may include in controlflow 334 any additional information such as process information and userinformation related to hypervisor 108 _(A) and flow 330. Similarly,network device capturing agent 226 can capture flow 330, and send a newcontrol flow 336, reporting flow 330, to collector 118. Network devicecapturing agent 226 may include in control flow 336 any additionalinformation such as process information and user information related tonetwork device 104 _(A) and flow 330.

Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also capture flow 332, reporting flow330 by VM capturing agent 204 _(A), and send a new control flow 338,reporting flow 332, to collector 118. Hypervisor capturing agent 210 mayinclude in control flow 338 any additional information such as processinformation and user information related to hypervisor 108 _(A) and flow332.

Network device capturing agent 226 can similarly capture flow 332,reporting flow 330 by VM capturing agent 204 _(A), and send a newcontrol flow 340, reporting flow 332, to collector 118. Network devicecapturing agent 226 may include in control flow 340 any additionalinformation such as process information and user information related tonetwork device 104 _(A) and flow 332. Moreover, network device capturingagent 226 can capture flow 338, reporting flow 332 from hypervisorcapturing agent 210, and send a new control flow 342, reporting flow338, to collector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 may include incontrol flow 342 any additional information such as process informationand user information related to network device 104 _(A) and flow 338.

As described above, in this example, flow 330 destined to fabric 112from VM 110 _(A), can be reported by network device capturing agent 226,hypervisor capturing agent 210, and VM capturing agent 204 _(A) tocollector 118. In addition, hypervisor capturing agent 210 and networkdevice capturing agent 226 can each report the communication (i.e.,control flow) from VM 110 _(A) to collector 118, reporting flow 330 tocollector 118. Network device capturing agent 226 can also report anycommunications from hypervisor capturing agent 210 reporting flows orcommunications captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210.

Referring to FIG. 3E, hypervisor 108 _(A) can send flow 344 to fabric112. In this example, flow 344 is originated by hypervisor 108 _(A).Leaf router 104 _(A) can receive flow 344 and forward it to fabric 112.

Hypervisor capturing agent 210 can also capture flow 344 and send a newcontrol flow 346, reporting flow 344, to collector 118. Hypervisorcapturing agent 210 may include in control flow 346 any additionalinformation such as process information and user information related tohypervisor 108 _(A) and flow 344. Similarly, network device capturingagent 226 can capture flow 344, and send a new control flow 348,reporting flow 344, to collector 118. Again, network device capturingagent 226 may include in control flow 348 any additional informationsuch as process information and user information related to networkdevice 104 _(A) and flow 344.

Network device capturing agent 226 can also capture flow 346, reportingflow 344 by hypervisor capturing agent 210, and send a new control flow350, reporting flow 346, to collector 118. Network device capturingagent 226 may include in control flow 350 any additional informationsuch as process information and user information related to networkdevice 104 _(A) and flow 346.

Referring to FIG. 3F, leaf router 104 _(A) can send flow 352 to fabric112. In this example, flow 352 is originated by leaf router 104 _(A).Network device capturing agent 226 can capture flow 352, and send a newcontrol flow 354, reporting flow 352, to collector 118. In addition,network device capturing agent 226 may include in control flow 354 anyadditional information such as process information and user informationrelated to network device 104 _(A) and flow 352. Thus, collector 118 canreceive a report of flow 352 from network device capturing agent 226.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example configuration 400for collecting capturing agent reports (i.e., control flows). Inconfiguration 400, traffic between fabric 112 and VM 110 _(A) isconfigured to flow through hypervisor 108 _(A). Moreover, trafficbetween fabric 112 and hypervisor 108 _(A) is configured to flow throughleaf router 104 _(A).

VM capturing agent 204 _(A) can be configured to report to collector 118traffic sent, received, or processed by VM 110 _(A). Hypervisorcapturing agent 210 can be configured to report to collector 118 trafficsent, received, or processed by hypervisor 108 _(A). Finally, networkdevice capturing agent 226 can be configured to report to collector 118traffic sent, received, or processed by leaf router 104 _(A).

Collector 118 can thus receive flows 402 from VM capturing agent 204_(A), flows 404 from hypervisor capturing agent 210, and flows 406 fromnetwork device capturing agent 226. Flows 402, 404, and 406 can includecontrol flows. Flows 402 can include flows captured by VM capturingagent 204 _(A) at VM 110 _(A).

Flows 404 can include flows captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210at hypervisor 108 _(A). Flows captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210can also include flows 402 captured by VM capturing agent 204 _(A), astraffic sent and received by VM 110 _(A) will be received and observedby hypervisor 108 _(A) and captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210.

Flows 406 can include flows captured by network device capturing agent226 at leaf router 104 _(A). Flows captured by network device capturingagent 226 can also include flows 402 captured by VM capturing agent 204_(A) and flows 404 captured by hypervisor capturing agent 210, astraffic sent and received by VM 110 _(A) and hypervisor 108 _(A) isrouted through leaf router 104 _(A) and can thus be captured by networkdevice capturing agent 226.

Collector 118 can collect flows 402, 404, and 406, and store thereported data. Collector 118 can also forward some or all of flows 402,404, and 406, and/or any respective portion thereof, to engine 120.Engine 120 can process the information, including any processinformation and user information, received from collector 118 toidentify patterns, conditions, statuses, network or devicecharacteristics; log statistics or history details; aggregate and/orprocess the data; generate reports, timelines, alerts, graphical userinterfaces; detect errors, events, inconsistencies; troubleshootnetworks or devices; configure networks or devices; deploy services ordevices; reconfigure services, applications, devices, or networks; etc.In particular, collector 118 or engine 120 can map individual flows thattraverse VM 110 _(A), hypervisor 108 _(A), and/or leaf router 104 _(A)to specific processes or users that are associated with VM 110 _(A),hypervisor 108 _(A), and/or leaf router 104 _(A). For example, collector118 or engine 120 can determine that a particular flow that originatedfrom VM 110 _(A) and destined for fabric 112 was sent by an OS usernamed X on VM 110 _(A) and via a process named Y on VM 110 _(A). It maybe determined that the same flow was received by a process named Z onhypervisor 108 _(A) and forwarded to a process named Won leaf router 104_(A).

While engine 120 is illustrated as a separate entity, otherconfigurations are also contemplated herein. For example, engine 120 canbe part of collector 118 and/or a separate entity. Indeed, engine 120can include one or more devices, applications, modules, databases,processing components, elements, etc. Moreover, collector 118 canrepresent one or more collectors. For example, in some configurations,collector 118 can include multiple collection systems or entities, whichcan reside in one or more networks.

FIG. 5 illustrates a sequence diagram of example capturing agentreporting process 500. In this example, flow 1 (502) has been observed(e.g., received, sent, generated, processed) by VM 110 _(A), hypervisor108 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A). Flow 2 (504) has been observed byhypervisor 108 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A). Flow 3 (506) has only beenobserved by leaf router 104 _(A).

Since flow 1 (502) has been observed by VM 110 _(A), hypervisor 108_(A), and leaf router 104 _(A), it can be captured and reported tocollector 118 by VM capturing agent 204 _(A) at VM 110 _(A), hypervisorcapturing agent 210 at hypervisor 108 _(A), and network device capturingagent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A). On the other hand, since flow 2 (504)has been observed by hypervisor 108 _(A) and leaf router 104 _(A) butnot by VM 110 _(A), it can be captured and reported to collector 118 byhypervisor capturing agent 210 at hypervisor 108 _(A) and network devicecapturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A), but not by VM capturingagent 204 _(A) at VM 110 _(A) Finally, since flow 3 (506) has only beenobserved by leaf router 104 _(A), it can be captured and reported tocollector 118 only by capturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A).

The reports or control flows received by collector 118 can includeinformation identifying the reporting capturing agent. For example, whentransmitting a report to collector 118, each capturing agent can includea unique capturing agent identifier, which the collector 118 and/or anyother entity reviewing the reports can use to map a received report withthe reporting capturing agent. Furthermore, the reports or control flowsreceived by collector 118 can include information identifying theprocess or the user responsible for the flow being reported. Collector118 can use such information to map the flows to corresponding processesor users.

Thus, based on the reports from capturing agents 204 _(A), 210, and 226,collector 118 and/or a separate entity (e.g., engine 120) can determinethat flow 1 (502) was observed and reported by capturing agent 204 _(A)at VM 110 _(A), capturing agent 210 at hypervisor 108 _(A), andcapturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A); flow 2 (504) was observedand reported by capturing agent 210 at hypervisor 108 _(A) and capturingagent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A); and flow 3 (506) was only observedand reported by capturing agent 226 at leaf router 104 _(A). Based onthis information, collector 118 and/or a separate entity, can determinethe placement of capturing agents 204 _(A), 210, 226 within VM 110 _(A),hypervisor 108 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A), as further describedbelow. In other words, this information can allow a device, such ascollector 118, to determine which of capturing agents 204 _(A), 210, 226is located at VM 110 _(A), which is located at hypervisor 108 _(A), andwhich is located at leaf router 104 _(A). If any of VM 110 _(A),hypervisor 108 _(A), and leaf router 104 _(A) is moved to a differentlocation (e.g., VM 110 _(A) moved to server 106 _(c) and hypervisor 108_(B)), the new flows collected by collector 118 can be used to detectthe new placement and topology of VM 110 _(A), hypervisor 108 _(A), andleaf router 104 _(A) and/or their respective capturing agents.Furthermore, the process and/or user information included in the controlflows received at collector 118 may also assist in determining how VM110 _(A), hypervisor 108 _(A), and/or leaf router 104 _(A) may move to adifferent location within the network. For example, by recognizing thata new device that just appeared in the network is sending out a flowthat matches the process and/or user profiles of a previously knowndevice, such as VM 110 _(A), collector 118 can determine that the newdevice is actually VM 110 _(A) that just moved to a different location(e.g., from server 1 (106 _(A)) to server 4 (106 _(D))) within thenetwork topology.

FIG. 6 illustrates a table of example mapping 600 of flow reports tocapturing agents. In this example, flow 602 was sent/received by VM 110_(A), flow 604 was sent/received by hypervisor 108 _(A), and flow 606was sent/received by leaf router 104 _(A). Accordingly, flow 602 wasreported by VM capturing agent 204 _(A), hypervisor capturing agent 210,and network device capturing agent 226. Flow 604 was reported byhypervisor capturing agent 210 and network device capturing agent 226,but not by VM capturing agent 204 _(A). Finally flow 606 was reported bynetwork device capturing agent 226, but not VM capturing agent 204 _(A)or hypervisor capturing agent 210.

FIG. 7 illustrates listing 700 of example fields on a capturing agentreport or control flow. The listing 700 can include one or more fields,such as:

Flow identifier (e.g., unique identifier associated with the flow).

Capturing agent identifier (e.g., data uniquely identifying reportingcapturing agent).

Timestamp (e.g., time of event, report, etc.).

Interval (e.g., time between current report and previous report,interval between flows or packets, interval between events, etc.).

Duration (e.g., duration of event, duration of communication, durationof flow, duration of report, etc.).

Flow direction (e.g., egress flow, ingress flow, etc.).

Application identifier (e.g., identifier of application associated withflow, process, event, or data).

Port (e.g., source port, destination port, layer 4 port, etc.).

Destination address (e.g., interface address associated withdestination, IP address, domain name, network address, hardware address,virtual address, physical address, etc.).

Source address (e.g., interface address associated with source, IPaddress, domain name, network address, hardware address, virtualaddress, physical address, etc.).

Interface (e.g., interface address, interface information, etc.).

Protocol (e.g., layer 4 protocol, layer 3 protocol, etc.).

Event (e.g., description of event, event identifier, etc.).

Flag (e.g., layer 3 flag, flag options, etc.).

Tag (e.g., virtual local area network tag, etc.).

Process (e.g., process identifier, etc.).

User (e.g., OS username, etc.).

Bytes (e.g., flow size, packet size, transmission size, etc.).

The listing 700 includes a non-limiting example of fields in a report.Other fields and data items are also contemplated herein, such ashandshake information, system information, network address associatedwith capturing agent or host, operating system environment information,network data or statistics, process statistics, system statistics, etc.The order in which these fields are illustrated is also exemplary andcan be rearranged in any other way. One or more of these fields can bepart of a header, a trailer, or a payload of in one or more packets.Moreover, one or more of these fields can be applied to the one or morepackets as labels. Each of the fields can include data, metadata, and/orany other information relevant to the fields.

Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts, thedisclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiments shown in FIGS.8-9. For the sake of clarity, the methods are described in terms ofcapturing agent 116, as shown in FIG. 1, configured to practice themethod. However, the example methods can be practiced by any software orhardware components, devices, etc. heretofore disclosed. The stepsoutlined herein are exemplary and can be implemented in any combinationthereof in any order, including combinations that exclude, add, ormodify certain steps.

In FIG. 8, capturing agent 116, executing on a first device in anetwork, can monitor a network flow associated with the first device(802). The first device can be a VM, a hypervisor, a server, a networkdevice, etc. Capturing agent 116 can be a process, a cluster ofprocesses, a kernel module, or a kernel driver. In addition, capturingagent 116 can run on a guest operating system installed in a virtualmachine on the device. Capturing agent 116 may also run on a hostoperating system installed at a hypervisor layer or on a hypervisor.Moreover, capturing agent 116 can be a process or a component in anetwork device such as a switch. The network flow or stream can be oneor more data packets.

At step 804, capturing agent 116 can generate a control flow based onthe network flow. The control flow can include metadata describing thenetwork flow. The metadata can relate to network data, an active processof the system, a previously active process of the device, and/or a filethat is present on the device. The metadata can also relate to operatingsystem user identifiers, timestamps, network addressing information,flow identifiers, capturing agent identifiers, time interval, intervalduration, flow direction, application identifier, port, destinationaddress, source address, interface, protocol, event, flag, tag, user,size, handshake information, statistics, etc. with regards to thenetwork flow being monitored and reported.

At step 806, capturing agent 116 can determine which process executingon the first device is associated with the network flow to yield processinformation. The process information may include the process identifierof the process. Furthermore, the process information may includeinformation about the OS username associated with the process. Theidentified process may be responsible for sending, receiving, orotherwise processing the network flow. The process can belong to theoperating system environment of the first device. Capturing agent 116can further determine which OS user of the first device is associatedwith the network flow to yield user information.

The capturing agent 116 can determine which kernel module has beenloaded and/or query the operating system to determine which process isexecuting on the first device. The capturing agent 116 can alsodetermine process ownership information to identify which user hasexecuted a particular service or process.

At step 808, capturing agent 116 can label the control flow with theprocess information to yield a labeled control flow. Capturing agent 116can further label the control flow with user information. The processand/or user information can be applied or added to the control flow aspart of a header, a trailer, or a payload.

At step 810, capturing agent can transmit the labeled control flow to asecond device in the network. The second device can be a collector thatis configured to receive a plurality of control flows from a pluralityof devices, particularly from their capturing agents, and analyze theplurality of control flows to determine relationships between networkflows and corresponding processes. Those other devices can also be VMs,hypervisors, servers, network devices, etc. equipped with VM capturingagents, hypervisor capturing agents, server capturing agents, networkdevice capturing agents, etc. The second device can map therelationships between the network flows and the corresponding processeswithin the first device and other devices in the plurality of devices.The second device or another device can utilize this information toidentify patterns, conditions, statuses, network or devicecharacteristics; log statistics or history details; aggregate and/orprocess the data; generate reports, timelines, alerts, graphical userinterfaces; detect errors, events, inconsistencies; troubleshootnetworks or devices; configure networks or devices; deploy services ordevices; reconfigure services, applications, devices, or networks; etc.

In FIG. 9, capturing agent 116, executing on a first device in anetwork, can monitor a network flow associated with the first device(902). The first device can be a VM, a hypervisor, a server, a networkdevice, etc. Capturing agent 116 can be a process, a cluster ofprocesses, a kernel module, or a kernel driver. In addition, capturingagent 116 can run on a guest operating system installed in a virtualmachine on the device. Capturing agent 116 may also run on a hostoperating system installed at a hypervisor layer or on a hypervisor.Moreover, capturing agent 116 can be a process or a component in anetwork device such as a switch. The network flow or stream can be oneor more data packets.

At step 904, capturing agent 116 can generate a control flow based onthe network flow. The control flow can include metadata describing thenetwork flow. The metadata can relate to network data, an active processof the system, a previously active process of the device, and/or a filethat is present on the device. The metadata can also relate toprocesses, timestamps, network addressing information, flow identifiers,capturing agent identifiers, time interval, interval duration, flowdirection, application identifier, port, destination address, sourceaddress, interface, protocol, event, flag, tag, size, handshakeinformation, statistics, etc. with regards to the network flow beingmonitored and reported.

At step 906, capturing agent 116 can determine which user of the firstdevice is associated with the network flow to yield user information.The user can be an operating system user account. The user informationmay include the username or the user identifier associated with theuser. The user may be an OS user of the first device's OS environment.The user may be associated with a process that sends, receives, orotherwise processes the network flow. Capturing agent 116 can furtherdetermine which process executing on the first device is associated withthe network flow to yield process information.

At step 908, capturing agent 116 can label the control flow with theuser information to yield a labeled control flow. Capturing agent 116can further label the control flow with process information. The processand/or user information can be applied or added to the control flow aspart of a header, a trailer, or a payload.

At step 910, capturing agent can transmit the labeled control flow to asecond device in the network. The second device can be a collector thatis configured to receive a plurality of control flows from a pluralityof devices, particularly from their capturing agents, and analyze theplurality of control flows to determine relationships between networkflows and corresponding processes. Those other devices can also be VMs,hypervisors, servers, network devices, etc. equipped with VM capturingagents, hypervisor capturing agents, server capturing agents, networkdevice capturing agents, etc. The second device can map therelationships between the network flows and the corresponding usersassociated with the first device or another device in the plurality ofdevices. The second device or some other device can utilize thisinformation to identify patterns, conditions, statuses, network ordevice characteristics; log statistics or history details; aggregateand/or process the data; generate reports, timelines, alerts, graphicaluser interfaces; detect errors, events, inconsistencies; troubleshootnetworks or devices; configure networks or devices; deploy services ordevices; reconfigure services, applications, devices, or networks; etc.

Example Devices

FIG. 10 illustrates an example network device 1010 according to someembodiments. Network device 1010 includes a master central processingunit (CPU) 1062, interfaces 1068, and a bus 1015 (e.g., a PCI bus). Whenacting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, the CPU1062 is responsible for executing packet management, error detection,and/or routing functions. The CPU 1062 preferably accomplishes all thesefunctions under the control of software including an operating systemand any appropriate applications software. CPU 1062 may include one ormore processors 1063 such as a processor from the Motorola family ofmicroprocessors or the MIPS family of microprocessors. In an alternativeembodiment, processor 1063 is specially designed hardware forcontrolling the operations of router 1010. In a specific embodiment, amemory 1061 (such as non-volatile RAM and/or ROM) also forms part of CPU1062. However, there are many different ways in which memory could becoupled to the system.

The interfaces 1068 are typically provided as interface cards (sometimesreferred to as “line cards”). Generally, they control the sending andreceiving of data packets over the network and sometimes support otherperipherals used with the router 1010. Among the interfaces that may beprovided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cableinterfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, and the like. Inaddition, various very high-speed interfaces may be provided such asfast token ring interfaces, wireless interfaces, Ethernet interfaces,Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, ATM interfaces, HSSI interfaces, POSinterfaces, FDDI interfaces and the like. Generally, these interfacesmay include ports appropriate for communication with the appropriatemedia. In some cases, they may also include an independent processorand, in some instances, volatile RAM. The independent processors maycontrol such communications intensive tasks as packet switching, mediacontrol and management. By providing separate processors for thecommunications intensive tasks, these interfaces allow the mastermicroprocessor 1062 to efficiently perform routing computations, networkdiagnostics, security functions, etc.

Although the system shown in FIG. 10 is one specific network device ofthe present invention, it is by no means the only network devicearchitecture on which the present invention can be implemented. Forexample, an architecture having a single processor that handlescommunications as well as routing computations, etc. is often used.Further, other types of interfaces and media could also be used with therouter.

Regardless of the network device's configuration, it may employ one ormore memories or memory modules (including memory 1061) configured tostore program instructions for the general-purpose network operationsand mechanisms for roaming, route optimization and routing functionsdescribed herein. The program instructions may control the operation ofan operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. Thememory or memories may also be configured to store tables such asmobility binding, registration, and association tables, etc.

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B illustrate example system embodiments. The moreappropriate embodiment will be apparent to those of ordinary skill inthe art when practicing the present technology. Persons of ordinaryskill in the art will also readily appreciate that other systemembodiments are possible.

FIG. 11A illustrates a conventional system bus computing systemarchitecture 1100 wherein the components of the system are in electricalcommunication with each other using a bus 1105. Exemplary system 1100includes a processing unit (CPU or processor) 1110 and a system bus 1105that couples various system components including the system memory 1115,such as read only memory (ROM) 1120 and random access memory (RAM) 1125,to the processor 1110. The system 1100 can include a cache of high-speedmemory connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated aspart of the processor 1110. The system 1100 can copy data from thememory 1115 and/or the storage device 1130 to the cache 1112 for quickaccess by the processor 1110. In this way, the cache can provide aperformance boost that avoids processor 1110 delays while waiting fordata. These and other modules can control or be configured to controlthe processor 1110 to perform various actions. Other system memory 1115may be available for use as well. The memory 1115 can include multipledifferent types of memory with different performance characteristics.The processor 1110 can include any general purpose processor and ahardware module or software module, such as module 1 1132, module 21134, and module 3 1136 stored in storage device 1130, configured tocontrol the processor 1110 as well as a special-purpose processor wheresoftware instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design.The processor 1110 may essentially be a completely self-containedcomputing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memorycontroller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor may be symmetric orasymmetric.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 1100, an inputdevice 1145 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 1135 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 1100. The communications interface1140 can generally govern and manage the user input and system output.There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardwarearrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

Storage device 1130 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk orother types of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges,random access memories (RAMs) 1125, read only memory (ROM) 1120, andhybrids thereof.

The storage device 1130 can include software modules 1132, 1134, 1136for controlling the processor 1110. Other hardware or software modulesare contemplated. The storage device 1130 can be connected to the systembus 1105. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs a particularfunction can include the software component stored in acomputer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardwarecomponents, such as the processor 1110, bus 1105, display 1135, and soforth, to carry out the function.

FIG. 11B illustrates an example computer system 1150 having a chipsetarchitecture that can be used in executing the described method andgenerating and displaying a graphical user interface (GUI). Computersystem 1150 is an example of computer hardware, software, and firmwarethat can be used to implement the disclosed technology. System 1150 caninclude a processor 1155, representative of any number of physicallyand/or logically distinct resources capable of executing software,firmware, and hardware configured to perform identified computations.Processor 1155 can communicate with a chipset 1160 that can controlinput to and output from processor 1155. In this example, chipset 1160outputs information to output device 1165, such as a display, and canread and write information to storage device 1170, which can includemagnetic media, and solid state media, for example. Chipset 1160 canalso read data from and write data to RAM 1175. A bridge 1180 forinterfacing with a variety of user interface components 1185 can beprovided for interfacing with chipset 1160. Such user interfacecomponents 1185 can include a keyboard, a microphone, touch detectionand processing circuitry, a pointing device, such as a mouse, and so on.In general, inputs to system 1150 can come from any of a variety ofsources, machine generated and/or human generated.

Chipset 1160 can also interface with one or more communicationinterfaces 1190 that can have different physical interfaces. Suchcommunication interfaces can include interfaces for wired and wirelesslocal area networks, for broadband wireless networks, as well aspersonal area networks. Some applications of the methods for generating,displaying, and using the GUI disclosed herein can include receivingordered datasets over the physical interface or be generated by themachine itself by processor 1155 analyzing data stored in storage 1170or 1175. Further, the machine can receive inputs from a user via userinterface components 1185 and execute appropriate functions, such asbrowsing functions by interpreting these inputs using processor 1155.

It can be appreciated that example systems 1100 and 1150 can have morethan one processor 1110 or be part of a group or cluster of computingdevices networked together to provide greater processing capability.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology maybe presented as including individual functional blocks includingfunctional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps orroutines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardwareand software.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, andmemories can include a cable or wireless signal containing a bit streamand the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media expressly exclude media such as energy, carrier signals,electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implementedusing computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwiseavailable from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise,for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, orsource code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used tostore instructions, information used, and/or information created duringmethods according to described examples include magnetic or opticaldisks, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory,networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprisehardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety ofform factors. Typical examples of such form factors include laptops,smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digitalassistants, rackmount devices, standalone devices, and so on.Functionality described herein also can be embodied in peripherals oradd-in cards. Such functionality can also be implemented on a circuitboard among different chips or different processes executing in a singledevice, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computingresources for executing them, and other structures for supporting suchcomputing resources are means for providing the functions described inthese disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explainaspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of theclaims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements insuch examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use theseexamples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further andalthough some subject matter may have been described in languagespecific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. Forexample, such functionality can be distributed differently or performedin components other than those identified herein. Rather, the describedfeatures and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systemsand methods within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, claimlanguage reciting “at least one of” a set indicates that one member ofthe set or multiple members of the set satisfy the claim.

It should be understood that features or configurations herein withreference to one embodiment or example can be implemented in, orcombined with, other embodiments or examples herein. That is, terms suchas “embodiment”, “variation”, “aspect”, “example”, “configuration”,“implementation”, “case”, and any other terms which may connote anembodiment, as used herein to describe specific features orconfigurations, are not intended to limit any of the associated featuresor configurations to a specific or separate embodiment or embodiments,and should not be interpreted to suggest that such features orconfigurations cannot be combined with features or configurationsdescribed with reference to other embodiments, variations, aspects,examples, configurations, implementations, cases, and so forth. In otherwords, features described herein with reference to a specific example(e.g., embodiment, variation, aspect, configuration, implementation,case, etc.) can be combined with features described with reference toanother example. Precisely, one of ordinary skill in the art willreadily recognize that the various embodiments or examples describedherein, and their associated features, can be combined with each other.

A phrase such as an “aspect” does not imply that such aspect isessential to the subject technology or that such aspect applies to allconfigurations of the subject technology. A disclosure relating to anaspect may apply to all configurations, or one or more configurations. Aphrase such as an aspect may refer to one or more aspects and viceversa. A phrase such as a “configuration” does not imply that suchconfiguration is essential to the subject technology or that suchconfiguration applies to all configurations of the subject technology. Adisclosure relating to a configuration may apply to all configurations,or one or more configurations. A phrase such as a configuration mayrefer to one or more configurations and vice versa. The word “exemplary”is used herein to mean “serving as an example or illustration.” Anyaspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily tobe construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs.Moreover, claim language reciting “at least one of” a set indicates thatone member of the set or multiple members of the set satisfy the claim.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: monitoring, by a capturingagent executing on a first device in a network, a network flowassociated with the first device; generating a control flow based on thenetwork flow, the control flow comprising metadata describing thenetwork flow; determining which process executing on the first device isassociated with the network flow to yield process information; labelingthe control flow with the process information to yield a labeled controlflow; transmitting the labeled control flow to a second device in thenetwork; and determining, by the second device, a relationship based onthe network flow and the process executing on the first device.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein, the second device is a collector that isconfigured to receive a plurality of control flows from a plurality ofdevices, the second device is configured to analyze the plurality ofcontrol flows to determine relationships between network flows andcorresponding processes of the first device and one or more of theplurality of devices, and the second device is configured to map therelationships between the network flows and the corresponding processesof the first device and the one or more of the plurality of devices. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing agent is at least one of aprocess, a cluster of processes, a kernel module, or a kernel driver. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata relates to at least one ofnetwork data, an active process of the system, a previously activeprocess of the first device, or a file that is present on the firstdevice.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing agent runs on aguest operating system installed in a virtual machine on the firstdevice.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the capturing agent runs on ahost operating system installed at a hypervisor layer.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the capturing agent is one of a process or a componentin a network switch.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining which operating system user of the first device isassociated with the network flow to yield user information; labeling thelabeled control flow with the user information to yield a second labeledcontrol flow; and transmitting the second labeled control flow to thesecond device.
 9. A system comprising: a processor; a virtual machine,the virtual machine having a first capturing agent, wherein the firstcapturing agent is configured to: monitor a first network flowassociated with the virtual machine: generate a first control flow basedon the first network flow, the first control flow comprising firstmetadata describing the first network flow; label the first control flowwith a first identifier of a first process executing on the virtualmachine and being associated with the first network flow to yield afirst labeled control flow; and transmit the first labeled control flowto a collector via the network; and a hypervisor hosting the virtualmachine using one or more hardware resources including a processor, thehypervisor having a second capturing agent, wherein the second capturingagent is configured to use the one or more hardware resources to:monitor a second network flow associated with the hypervisor, the secondnetwork flow comprising the first labeled control flow; generate asecond control flow based on the second network flow, the second controlflow comprising second metadata describing the second network flow;label the second control flow with a second identifier of a secondprocess executing on the hypervisor and being associated with the secondnetwork flow to yield a second labeled control flow; and transmit thesecond labeled control flow to the collector via, the network.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the collector is configured to receive aplurality of control flows from a plurality of devices and analyze theplurality of control flows to determine relationships between networkflows and corresponding processes of the first device and one or more ofthe plurality of devices.
 11. The system of claim 9, further comprising;a switch in the network, the switch having a third capturing agent,wherein the third capturing agent is configured to: monitor a thirdnetwork flow associated with the switch, the third network flowcomprising the first labeled control flow and the second labeled controlflow; generate a third control flow based on the third network flow, thethird control flow comprising third metadata describing the thirdnetwork flow; label the third control flow with a third identifier of athird process executing on the switch and being associated with thethird network flow to yield a third labeled control flow; and transmitthe third labeled control flow to the collector via the network.
 12. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein each of the first capturing agent and thesecond capturing agent is at least one of a process, a cluster ofprocesses, a kernel module, or a kernel driver.
 13. The system of claim9, wherein the first capturing agent runs on a guest operating systeminstalled in the virtual machine and the second capturing agent runs ona host operating system installed on the hypervisor.
 14. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructionswhich, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising; monitoring, by a capturing agent running on afirst device in a network, a network flow associated with the firstdevice; generating a control flow based on the network flow, the controlflow comprising metadata describing the network flow; determining whichuser of the first device is associated with the network flow to yielduser information; labeling the control flow with the user information toyield a labeled control flow; transmitting the labeled control flow to asecond device in the network; and determining, by the second device, arelationship based on the network flow and the user associated with thenetwork flow.
 15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 14,wherein the user is an operating system user account.
 16. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein, the second deviceis a collector that is configured to receive a plurality of controlflows from a plurality of devices, the second device is configured toanalyze the plurality of control flows to determine relationshipsbetween network flows and corresponding users of the first device andone or more of the plurality of devices, and the second device isconfigured to map the relationships between the network flows and thecorresponding processes of the first device and the one or more of theplurality of devices.
 17. The computer-readable storage device of claim14, wherein the capturing agent is at least one of a process, a kernelmodule, or a kernel driver.
 18. The computer-readable storage device ofclaim 14, wherein the capturing agent runs on one of (i) a guestoperating system installed in a virtual machine on the first device, or(ii) a host operating system installed at a hypervisor layer.
 19. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the capturingagent is one of a process or a component in a network switch.
 20. Thecomputer-readable storage device of claim 14, storing additionalinstructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto perform further operations comprising: determining which processexecuting on the first device is associated with the network flow toyield process information; labeling the labeled control flow with theprocess information to yield a second labeled control flow; andtransmitting the second labeled control flow to the second device.